Arrowroot

A weak or elderly patient recovering from fever or gastrointestinal upset who needs an easily digested, non-irritating starch to rebuild strength

An infant with loose stools where a smooth, mucilaginous gruel is better tolerated than milk or wheat starch

Overview. Maranta arundinacea, arrowroot, is a perennial reed-like herb of tropical America, long cultivated in the West Indies and Bermuda for its starchy rhizomes. The rhizome is harvested, washed, and processed into a fine white starch, the part used medicinally and as food. In nineteenth century eclectic and domestic medicine it held a firm place as the gentlest of nutritive starches, given to infants, invalids, and convalescents when ordinary food could not be tolerated.

Clinical Notes. Arrowroot starch is prepared as a thin gruel by cooking a small amount with water or milk until it thickens into a smooth, translucent paste, then given warm in small frequent feedings. It was a mainstay of the sickroom kitchen: bland, easily digested, low in irritating fiber, and gentle on an inflamed or convalescing gut, making it useful for weaning infants off milk during diarrheal illness or for feeding patients recovering from fevers and gastrointestinal upsets who cannot yet manage solid food.